Rozzma's 'Donya Fakka' EP

Straight from Cairo, a futuristic debut on Acid Arab's new imprint

The first and foremost exponent of Cairo's futuristic rave bass music, Rozzma is a fictional character, his only existence is on stage, videos and space. He's started manifesting himself around Europe, popping up here and there and wowing the crowds at festivals and clubs, expect to see much more of him in the near future. Meanwhile, here's his killer debut EP, out on Acid Arab Records, the new imprint launched by Acid Arab in collaboration with Crammed Discs.

Sofarnopolis

Crammed Discs are delighted to present Sofarnopolis,
the debut album by Matias Aguayo & The Desdemonas.

Renowned electronic music producer & DJ Matias Aguayo presents his new project, which will unfold on several levels. The Desdemonas are a 4-piece rock band, fronted by Aguayo (who sings and plays a variety of instruments). It’s also a fictional story about a group of teenagers in a dystopian world.

The first single Cold Fever introduces into the Noir vibe of the whole thing and its story. It is a modern All about Eve tale (The Desdemonas are huge Bette Davis fans), taking place in the nighttime world of the city of Sofarnopolis, which bears resemblance to that of today's capitals of dance, but is obviously much more glamorous. An animation video by Celine Keller made with drawings by Matias Aguayo will further unravel mysteries about Cold Fever.

And the 7" offers a B-side dub mix made by none other than the legendary Trevor Jackson.

Cold Fever 7" including Trevor Jackson Dub out on now

Sofarnopolis will be out on Crammed Discs on October 13th (CD / 2LP / Digital)

Kasai Allstars tour Europe to celebrate "Félicité"

The band have a central role in the award-winning fiction film. They're playing a dozen European shows in October, to celebrate the movie's release in several countries
French-Senegalese director Alain Gomis drew his inspiration for his film from the music of Kasai Allstars, and the sublime voice of their singer Muambuyi. The band recorded most of the soundtrack, and appear onscreen playing their own part. The film was awarded the Silver Bear Grand Jury Award at the Berlin Film Festival, the Golden Stallion at the FESPACO (Panafrican Film Festival), and no less than 6 awards (including best soundtrack) at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in Lagos.

To celebrate the film's success and its release in Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the UK, Kasai Allstars will be playing the following shows, with a tight, rockier line-up.Some of the shows are linked to premiere screenings of the film.(more details and links HERE)

Tuxedomoon member Peter Principle's untimely demise

Peter Principle, one of the key members of American avant-garde rock band Tuxedomoon, unexpectedly passed away in Brussels on July 17, 2017.
He was 63. The probable cause of his sudden death is a heart attack, or a stroke. The band celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and had gathered in Brussels to rehearse for a tour and to write music for a new album.

Peter was an exceptional bass & guitar player, and a great sonic experimentalist. He had joined Tuxedomoon shortly after the band's creation by Steven Brown et Blaine Reininger, and played a central role in the composition, recording and production of all the band's records, from their first EPs and their debut album "Half-Mute" (1980) to their most recent releases, the "Pink Narcissus" album (2014) and the original soundtrack for the film "Blue Velvet Revisited" (2015).

Peter Principle also recorded four very interesting solo albums ( "Sedimental Journey" and "Tone Poem", respectively released by Crammed in 1985 & 1989, as part of the Made To Measure series, and "Conjunction" [1990] & "Idyllatry" [2005]), in which he gave free rein to his taste for experimentation and his love for quasi-psychedelic soundscapes. He once explained that he had discovered the magic of pure sound by listening to the sound of lawn-mowers in his native New York suburb, and then proceeded to reinvent musique concrète (which he didn’t know already existed)…

Born Peter Dachert, he had adopted this pseudonym as an ironic tribute to the book of the same name ("The Peter Principle", a satirical management theory which states a.o. that, in all hierarchies, any employee tends to rise to the position where he reaches a maximal level of incompetence, or something like that…)

Peter Principle also produced albums for other artists, including Minimal Compact, Marine, Isolation Ward, Sprung aus Den Wolken & more, and recorded with the likes of Wim Mertens. These last few years, he collaborated with his friend Dok Gregory under the project name Zero Gravity Thinkers.

His presence, his intriguing ideas, his imposing silhouette and stage presence, his inimitable bass guitar style will be cruelly missed.

Originally issued by Crammed in 1987, this is one of the most sought-after releases in our legendary Made To Measure series. Known for his numerous albums, soundtracks, and collaborations with an impossibly broad array of artists (from Ryuichi Sakamoto and DJ Towa Tei to Van Dyke Parks, Björk, Manu Dibango and Elvin Jones), composer, saxophonist and producer Yasuaki Shimizu also released several electronic music productions during the '80s, which are currently generating a lot of interest (a.o. his recently reissued Mariah project).

"Music For Commercials" is a brilliant and inventive collection of short pieces, initially conceived as soundtracks for Japanese TV commercials (and bearing sweet titles such as “Seiko”, “Sharp”, “Honda” etc). These twenty-three tracks (each clocking in at two minutes or less, except one longer piece composed for a computer-animation short) abound with hit-and-run sound collages, twittering computers, and energetic ricocheting between myriad styles of music. This album has achieved near-mythical status in the last few years, which have seen artists such as Oneohtrix Point Never sing its praise.

The album has been remastered, and is coming out on vinyl, as well as CD and digital.

Advance track by Matias Aguayo & The Desdemonas

Renowned DJ & electronic music producer Matias Aguayo will soon be releasing the debut album of his new band The Desdemonas. We're happy to share Nervous, a first track from the album.

Nervous was recorded live at the Gewölbe in Cologne, and will appear in Matias Aguayo & The Desdemonas' LP Sofarnopolis (out in Oct 2017 on Crammed Discs). It tells the story of a nightly encounter with a girl floating in purple light and glowing in the dark. It's a scene from Sofarnopolis' dystopian narrative (which will also be unfold in cartoons and videos based on Matias' drawings).

On this track, Aguayo sings and plays the "Mona", Gregorio Gomez is on guitar, Henning Specht on keys and Matteo Scrimali on drums.

Juana Molina : accolades and tour

Her new album "Halo" gets impressive kudos, while she gets ready for a tour in Europe and Argentina

Juana Molina's mesmerizing seventh LP is unanimously acclaimed by US & UK media, from Pitchfork ("her strongest") to Mixmag ("endlessly bewitching"), the Sunday Times ("An album veering on genius"), MOJO ("Finest yet from the idiosyncratic electronicist") and Libération ("Her most spellbinding album to date"). More press quotes below.

And so is her new video "Paraguaya", featuring her famous mother, actress Chunchuna Villafañe, appearing as a witch who teaches Juana how to prepare a love potion, which ends up not working...

Finest yet from the idiosyncratic electronicist. A treat where acoustic and electronic elements thrive in magical harmony. Halo digs deep into the unknown and brings back unexpected brilliance. MOJO (UK)

Argentinian experimentalist's eerie, excellent seventh. Haunting, bassy and electronic. Molina has managed to tap into a fertile, mysterious muse. (Uncut, UK)She's spent the last two decades constructing her own magical world with experimentalist electronica as her base. It's endlessly bewitching. (Mixmag, UK)

Juana Molina doesn't just write songs, she creates environments (Stereogum, US)A deep sense of spiritual ritual spreads across Halo, through spry dances animated by metallic percussion and zealous chants that echo like secret religious observances happening in deep woods. Each track brings its own weather. (NPR, US)Her most spellbinding album to date, Halo sees Juana Molina revisit her inimitable electronized folk trance, after having dipped her guitar and vocal cords in a cauldron of magic potion. (Libération, FR)

KASAI ALLSTARS

at the core of Alain Gomis’ movie "Félicité"

Inspired by the music of Kasai Allstars and by their vocalist Muambuyi (whose voice is heard in the soundtrack), director Alain Gomis created the main protagonist of his film, a proud woman named Félicité who works as a singer with the band, and sets out on a breakneck race through the streets of electric Kinshasa in order to save her son. The movie just earned the Silver Bear Grand Jury Award at the Berlin Film Festival, and the Golden Stallion at the FESPACO (Panafrican Film Festival).

The band wrote and performed most of the soundtrack, and appears onscreen playing their own part. Muambuyi’s voice is omnipresent, and is being heard everytime Félicité (played by Congolese actress Vero Tshanda) sings in the bars of Kinshasa, backed by Kasai Allstars.

The Around Félicité album includes the film’s main pieces, performed by Kasai Allstars and by the Kinshasa Symphonic Orchestra (who specially arranged three works by composer Arvo Pärt), alongside new tracks by Kasai Allstars, as well as interludes consisting of fragments of dialogues and sound bites taken from the soundtrack.

The album comes with a companion piece: Félicité Remixes, a collection of 10 remixes of Kasai Allstars tracks by electronic music producers from Europe, North America and Africa, including reworks by Clap! Clap!, Daedelus and Africaine 808.

Around FélicitéandFélicité Remixes - LP/CD/DigitalOut in France now - elswhere on April 28th